Mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers (“tablets”) are versatile machines that have greatly expanded practical usages of computing devices. Among other benefits, a mobile device can be conveniently used by multiple users, such as by one user simply handing the mobile device to another user or by flipping the mobile device mounted on a rotatable docking station towards another user. One application in which this may occur, for example, is the use of a mobile device to facilitate a financial transaction between a merchant and a consumer, where the mobile device has to interact with both the merchant and the consumer during the financial transaction.
In a manner similar to a conventional checkout register, a mobile register software application running on a mobile device enables a merchant to check out purchases made by a consumer. The mobile register application can include a merchant interface instance to enable the merchant to review items or services that a consumer would like to purchase. The mobile register application can also include a device interface to communicate with a payment card reader, where the payment card reader is coupled to the mobile device via a dongle, a wired connection, or a wireless connection. The mobile register application can further include a consumer interface instance for enabling the consumer to sign and/or enter a personal identification number (PIN) on the mobile device to verify a payment card accessed via the payment card reader. In this way, the mobile register application implemented on the mobile device can substitute for a traditional set of devices including a checkout register, a card reader, a PIN keypad, and a signature capture device. An example of a mobile register application with functionality such as the Square Register, available from Square, Inc. of San Francisco, Calif.
The figures depict various embodiments of the present invention for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the invention described herein.